Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 29.djvu/461

Rh heads of the Order to a Parliament which he held at Lincoln, and then threatened to have them trodden to death beneath the horses of his attendants. But during the following night the king was visited with a fearful dream, which diverted him from his cruel purpose. It seemed to him that he was led before a certain judge, around whom the Cistercian Abbots were standing in order, and the judge having heard their complaint, ordered the Abbots to inflict a severe scourging upon the royal back. This they did; and when the king awoke the next morning he declared that he still suffered from the effects of the punishment.

"'This dream he related to a certain ecclesiastic of the court, who assured him that the Almighty had been above measure merciful to him, who had thought fit to afford this paternal correction to him,— and advised him immediately to send for the Abbots, to express his sorrow, and to make them restitution. This accordingly he did. He granted them a charter for a new Abbey, and he endowed it with a large tract of land in the New Forest (9000 acres), declaring that he had done so by the Divine suggestion. He also endowed it with the manors of Great and Little Farringdon, in Berkshire, Great and Little Coxwell, and several other lands and possessions. He also directed his treasurer to pay one hundred marks towards the building of the Abbey, and issued an order to all Cistercian houses to contribute their help towards the same object.'

"The church, as appears by the Waverley Annals, was completed in 1227, but the solemn dedication did not take place till 1264, when, on the nativity of St. John Baptist, the whole Abbey and church was consecrated with great pomp, in the presence of King Henry III., his queen (Eleanor of Provence), Edward Prince of Wales, Richard Flantagenet, Earl of Cornwall, King of the Romans, together with many prelates and nobles; the Bishops of Winchester, Worcester, and Lichfield; William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, Gilbert de Clare, De Vere, Bohun, and Bigod.

"The King, it is said was so gratified with the splendour of the Dedication Feast, that he remitted a considerable fine, which the Abbot had incurred by a trespass in the New Forest.

"No sooner (proceeds the Chronicler) had the solemn dedication been complete than Richard Earl of Cornwall took thirteen monks from the bosom of this church to found a monastery of Hales Owen, near Winchcombe, in Worcestershire.

"This was not the first migration that took place from Beaulieu, for King Henry III. had previously transferred a convent of thirteen monks from thence and established them at Netley Abbey, which he then founded upon the banks of the Southampton Water.

"A third migration again took place from Beaulieu, A.D. 1246, when John de Ponti, prior of Beaulieu, started, with twelve followers, to found the abbey of Newenham, in Devonshire, as recorded in the Waverley Annals: 'Hoc anno fundata fuit Abbatia do Newenham Filia Tertia Belli Loci Regis.'

"The first person of distinction destined to receive interment in the Abbey was Isabella, wife of Richard, King of the Romans. She was daughter of William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, and the widow of Gilbert de Clare. Hollinshed tells us that Earl Richard greatly 'lamented her loss, and honourably buried his wife at Belland of Beau-